Women’s civil society organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina as local agents of international conventions on women’s rights. An analysis of challenges related to the process of norm diffusion

Abstract

Women’s rights have increasingly become an international concern and various in-ternational conventions on women’s rights came into being in the last decades. Bosnia-Herzegovina has signed and ratified all important international conven-tions relating to women’s rights, whereas the numerous women's civil society organ-izations continue to advocate for the proper implementation of conventions while helping women to claim their rights guaranteed in these conventions and locally enacted laws on gender equality. This article, based on interviews conducted be-tween August 2020 and June 2021 with members of women's civil society organiza-tions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, takes a closer look at the process of norm diffusion. In particular, this article aims to contribute to the understanding of the processes of norm implementation and the related challenges from the perspective of women’s civil society organizations in the specific context of Bosnia-Herzegovina.